Need Help

[Mickey28]

Disney World veterans but very ignorant on all things Universal. We are a family of 5 with a 17yo boy, 13yo girl and 7yo girl.
Would love to give Universal a try for a 4 night/3 day trip. What is the best hotel to stay in for a room for 5. Almost all of the rooms at the onsite hotels seem to limit it to four people unless you buy a suite which really ups the per night charge.
Any suggestions for hotels close by would be greatly appreciated.
Costco has deals for hotels/ticket packages but I don't know which ones are good or not.
Holiday inn and Suites
Sheraton Vistana Villages
Renaissance
Hyatt Regency
Gaylord Palms Resort
Melia Orlando Suite at Celebration
Marriott at Orlando World Center

 

[macraven]

Hotels onsite at UO allow 5 to a room

Exception is 3 for King suites but all over suites can go up higher to 7

 

[Mickey28]

All I see in the standard rooms are 2 queen beds

 

[macraven]

Correct

If your question is what about the 5 th person. Hotels have twin roll away beds for nightly rentals

I would go with star service assistance and have them being linens, pillows, etc to make a pallet on the floor

It is a free service all hotel guests can use

Or bring an inflatable bed for the 5th person

Most peeps are in their rooms for sleeping and do more of their awake times outside of the hotel

 

[tony67]

All I see in the standard rooms are 2 queen beds

I think you would need a roll away. (extra charge)

Did you check the Family rooms at Cabana bay - they have two queens plus a pull out couch and kitchenette with mini refrigerator, microwave and small sink
Just like Disney - you spend a lot of time getting to and from if you stay off site - and at least with cabana bay you get in an hour early
It much less expensive than the other resorts (for example 160 for a suite plus tax - similar to the price of a standard room at a Disney Mod) - the disadvantage is you don't get express pass - but if you stay off site you don't get that either

I think the Marriott is Closer to Disney than Universal BTW - it was nice - I'm pretty sure that is the one I stayed at.
Sheraton Vistana was pretty good - but that was years ago - cant speak for today
Just like Disney you need to be careful staying off site (since your asking about this I can see you are doing the due diligence) - they often Name/describe hotels as if they are right at the entrance to Disney - but they are miles away and are somewhat sketchy.
I recall booking a hotel at a chain (Free with a Delta flight) - and showing up at the one I thought it was - they laughed and said it was down the road a bit. When I finally got there it was pretty bad - you had to pay $5 for a phone in the room and they said don't answer the door - yeah - so we left that pretty quick.

I avoid off site for the most part these days.

 

[schumigirl]

You don't necessarily need to pay for a rollaway if you didn't want to.

You can bring an air bed and housekeeping will give you bedding for it at no extra charge.


Edit......just noticed macraven already mentioned this.......

 

[schumigirl]

Check out Drury Inn and Suites.

Only 5 minutes away from Universal and gets excellent reviews!

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I wouldn't stay at Cabana Bay again due to houkeeping issues.

 

[pcstang]

Check out Drury Inn and Suites.

Only 5 minutes away from Universal and gets excellent reviews!

We did two nights at Drury a couple of weeks ago. It was a very last minute trip and not a single onsite room was available. We finally got PBR later but really liked Drury. It was a 5 minute drive to the parks at the most. Nice breakfast and dinner spread with 3 drinks included at night. Both breakfast and dinner were included. The hotel is fairly new but has to be a couple of years old by now. It was immaculate! Looked like it just opened and the staff were fantastic. If you don't want to stay onsite, which we always do except for a couple of days this trip, I highly recommend Drury. Wanted to add we could see WDW fireworks from our room too.

 

[macraven]

I stay at drury inn and suites frequently in travels

You can expect them all to be operated the same

Free food and drinks are a plus in staying there

They take AAA for discounts besides other ones

Last October I stayed 4 nights at Drury in St. Louis

Second morning housekeeper tried to let herself in the room at 8
Had the bar lock on which prevented her from entering

I called front desk and told them the do not disturb sign was on the doorknob

I was sick the night prior and did not get to sleep until 4 in the morning


Manager came to my room around noontime to apologize once he got my message from the front desk

Manager comped my room for that night
Decent of him as my rate was at $120

Drury Inn wants happy guests

 

[Mickey28]

I would much prefer to be on property. Is there a way to get a better quote than booking directly through Universal?

 

[Mickey28]

Package deal thru Costco 4night/3day with 3 day park to park tickets for 5 and 4 nights at the Sapphire Hotel in the Sapphire suite is $2512.00

Is that a pretty good deal or can I do better? I am just so used to Disney prices.

 

[macraven]

Package deal thru Costco 4night/3day with 3 day park to park tickets for 5 and 4 nights at the Sapphire Hotel in the Sapphire suite is $2512.00

Is that a pretty good deal or can I do better? I am just so used to Disney prices.

3 day p2p passes for 5
How many under 10 for the children ticket rate?

Room for 4 nights would be less than $800 off the top of my head

But need to know what dates we are talking about as that can make a difference for a standard room cost

 

[Mickey28]

3 day p2p passes for 5
How many under 10 for the children ticket rate?

Room for 4 nights would be less than $800 off the top of my head

But need to know what dates we are talking about as that can make a difference for a standard room cost

Nov 16-20 5ppl total 1 under 10

 

[macraven]

I need to plug those dates on the web site to see what comes up


Back later

 

[macraven]

i have been checking the rates for op's dates of nov 16-20

all i have been able to find are the kids suite and the sapphire suite
kids suite at $341.20 a night and sapphire suite at $384 a night.


did not find any standard rooms.

this is high probably due to 4 days prior to thanksgiving time.

my suggestion is to try again in a week or so and see if any rooms that are standard open up.

did find rooms at cbay for $126 a night.


if you wanted rpr, there are standard rooms available for your dates with the smsm and at $231.20 per night.
this hotel allows you the free unimited ep,
sapphire falls does not.

 

[Mickey28]

I'm sorry, not sure what RPR and SMSM stand for. Cabana Bay doesn't give you access to Express Pass?

 

[schumigirl]

I'm sorry, not sure what RPR and SMSM stand for. Cabana Bay doesn't give you access to Express Pass?

RPR is Royal Pacific Resort

SMSM Stay more Save more........

Cabana Bay is a budget resort so no EP. Only get EP at Portofino Bay, Hard Rock Hotel and Royal Pacific.

 

[Grumpy92]

In general packages are not a good deal. I don't normally use TAs but I am going to plug the ones who run this site, Dreams Unlimited. We are Disney vets who know the place inside and out and normally do our own planning. But the first time we went to US we did not understand anything. So I used DU, boy did I get a good deal. They are very knowledgeable and the best thing is if they book you a reservation they are constantly looking for a discount for you. They will then adjust the reservation to the lower price. So my recommendation is contact one of their agents. Everything is done online or they will talk to you on the phone. You might want to check out some of their podcast or reviews on youtube. They can answer all your questions including offsite hotels nearby, tickets and express pass.

We have stayed at RPR, HRH and CBBR. Loved the family suites at CBBR. Cant say enough good things about this resort. For the same price I would have paid for WDW value I got more bang for my buck at CBBR. Stayed several times in the last few years and it has been great.

RPR - Royal Pacific Resort
SFR - Sapphire Falls Resort
CBBR - Cabana Bay Resort

 

[macraven]

Once you book with a specialize company you'll know how to do it
yourself if you do a repeat trip to the darkside

So easy to book Rooms and buy tickets either on site or thru 3rd party vendors

You'll learn that booking everything separate can save you money the second time you are planning a trip there